Paris bans even-numbered plates from roads in bid to halt air pollution

PARIS has introduced some bizarre new rules for drivers and made public transport free in a bid to prevent pollution ruining the city of light.

AFP

AFPMarch 22, 20158:09am

File photo of the Eiffel Tower photographed through the smog in Paris. Pic: AP/Jacques Brinon.Source:AP

ODD numbered plates will be the only ones allowed on Paris roads as of Monday.

Why? The city is desperately trying to halt pollution, so they decided to make public transport free and stop half the city’s vehicles from driving by simply banning them from the road.

The day of emergency traffic-limiting measures are in place as the City of Light and much of northern France suffers from a choking smog.

City mayor Anne Hidalgo had asked authorities to prevent one in every two cars from taking to the capital’s streets and make all public transport temporarily free in a bid to drive down pollution.

(FILES) This file picture dated March 27,2014 shows the Montparnasse Tower (R) and the Notre-Dame-de-Paris cathedral (L) in a thick smog. AFP/Lionel BonaventureSource:AFP

“I am delighted the state has agreed to put in place a partial driving ban on Monday, which I have been requesting for several days,” Hidalgo wrote on Saturday on Twitter.

Only vehicles with numberplates ending in an odd number will be allowed to drive, though exceptions exist for vehicles like taxis, electric cars and ambulances.

Public transportation is to be free until at least Monday in Paris and its surrounding towns in an effort to force pollution down by coaxing drivers to give up their cars for a few days. Similar emergency measures were last implemented almost exactly a year ago — on March 17 — during a particularly bad spike in the pollution levels.

On Saturday, air quality monitors predicted that concentrations of potentially dangerous particulates in the air could again go over the recommended maximum.

In Paris, authorities measure the concentration of particulates with a diameter of less than 10 microns — so-called PM10 — in the air to determine pollution levels.

These particulates are created by vehicles, heating and heavy industry, and include the most dangerous particles that measure less than 2.5 microns in diameter, which can penetrate deep into the lungs and the blood system and can cause cancer.

The safe limit for PM10 is set at 80 micrograms per cubic metre (mcg/m3).

According to a 2011 World Health Organisation report, the planet’s most polluted city was Ahvaz in Iran with an average of 372 mcg/m3.

Beijing had an average of 121 mcg/m3, while Paris was measured at 38 mcg/m3.